Monday, February 12, 2007

QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPPOSED EVIDENCE OF IRANIAN WEAPONS

The 16-page dossier presented by the 3 unnamed officials can be found here:

p. 5-refers to U.S. raid on Iranian consulate in Irbil. Report says the consulate was not a consulate. The IRGC-QF logo is supposedly on at least one ID card--could that have been Photoshopped into the picture of the ID?

p. 8-why should we believe that these weapons were found where this report says they were found? How do we know they weren't planted? How do we know any of this for sure?

p. 10-headline says "TNT from Iran"--how do they know this? They don't explain how Iranian TNT differs at all from the TNT produced by any other country. There is a picture of a label on something--what that something is they don't say--that is purported to be written in Farsi. However, there is soot or something on the label that almost completely obscures what the label says and what language it's written in. This could also be Photoshopped. Why is the soot not cleaned off?

p. 11-81mm mortar round shipping containers: Why are weapons manufactured in Iran labelled in English? The previous page attempted to get us to see Farsi on a supposedly Iranian weapon. How is "Fuze: A111-A2" assessed to be "of Iranian production?" It's not in Farsi.

There are two sets of mortar containers pictured, but they each have slightly different markings. Of course, one is supposedly from 2001 while the other is from 2006. Why the discrepancy in markings? Could these labels also have been Photoshopped? After all, it would be hard to convince the American public of all this supposed Iranian treachery if all the labels were written in Farsi. It's very convenient that these particular weapons have English markings.

p. 12-same questions

p. 13-same questions--Photoshopping likely or at least possible. And now that I think about it, Iran uses the Persian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar. So to them, this year isn't 2007 and last year wasn't 2006, and so forth. Is Iran in the habit of using a calendar other than their own in industrial production?

What is "New Baghdad?"

p. 14-I'm not convinced--a picture of what looks like a silver-colored metal cylinder with some numbers stamped on it is supposedly a "man portable air defense system missile?"

p. 15-how are these anti-tank rounds uniquely Iranian? Again, are Iranians in the habit of using English and the Gregorian calendar, as in "Lot: 5-31-2006?" Do they always use the American date ordering system of month/day/year? Because of their English influence, would they not use the European system of day/month/year?

p. 16-I wondered when the "intelligence" extracted by torture was going to come up.